


Best Coffee In Brooklyn

by lordofthepringles



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-24
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-12-06 07:28:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/733000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordofthepringles/pseuds/lordofthepringles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt was just looking for a decent cup of coffee, but what he found instead changed his life forever. A 10 years later fiction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kurt hated Rachel. Especially on days like today, when she insisted he make a trek with her to Brooklyn so, she could audition for some way off Broadway production. Normally he didn't mind, because she always ended up auditioning for terrible shows and even then she had only managed to land three of the at least twenty auditions she had gone on. They were a month away from graduation. One month left and Kurt would have a bachelor's degree in performing arts. He had transferred to NYADA after a second audition and joined Rachel in their second semester. He worked his ass off to take extra classes so he could graduate on time, and he was so close to being done. However, he had a huge music theory paper to write. It was to be at least fifteen pages long, in APA format, and to have a cover page and an abstract written. He had heard horror stories of students having to stay for an extra semester because they failed that paper which was worth 75% of the final grade in his class. He only had six pages written, and even that wasn't very well written and it was due by Monday. He didn't have time to spare on a Saturday afternoon traipsing around the boroughs of New York City, so that Rachel could audition for yet another creepy off Broadway production. Of course, he went anyway, because Finn, who wasn't even with Rachel anymore, called him and told him Burt would be ashamed of him letting Rachel go all by herself into a bad neighborhood. Kurt hated that Finn used his father's memory against him, but he also knew that Rachel as annoying as she was, didn't deserve anything bad to happen to her. So here he was waiting in a very sketchy warehouse in Brooklyn for an audition.

Rachel was finally called an hour later into the audition. Kurt snuck in and immediately proceeded to laugh his ass off. This was no Broadway production at all. In fact, they were interviewing people for a porn website that was set to go live in a few days. Rachel was auditioning to be a furry. Rachel looked confused and took the kitten costume she was handed. Kurt knew he should step in to help her, but it really was funny. Then two of the other people who were also auditioning started engaging in some seriously questionable behavior, and Rachel threw the costume back at the man. She informed him loudly and quite vehemently that she would not be participating in his perverse sexual production and stomped out the door. Kurt was quick to follow still laughing hysterically.

"I don't see what is so funny about this situation, Kurt."

"Rachel, that was not an off Broadway production you were auditioning for."

"But on Craig's List it was under the stage performance thing."

"Seriously, Rachel? Craig's List?"

"What? I need to audition. We're graduating in a month and I need to get a production so that I can stay in New York City and support myself."

"Yes, but Rachel, Craig's List is not the way to go. What you just witnessed was auditions for a pornography website. They were auditioning furries."

"What is a furry?"

"I think you just witnessed firsthand what it was."

"That's disgusting."

"Some people like it, and apparently it's going to have a section on that site."

"Why would anyone think I wanted to audition for that?"

"You showed up to the audition, Rachel."

"Yeah, but on the listing it said it was for an obscure production."

Kurt couldn't help but start laughing again.

"Rachel, I think you've learned your lesson. Don't take anymore off Broadway auditions that you find on Craig's List."

Rachel pouted the rest of the way to the subway station. Kurt couldn't help but feel a tiny bit gleeful that it was over quickly and he could be in the school library in an hour working on his paper."

However, Rachel insisted on finding a Starbucks. She used one of her apps and claimed that if they got off at the next stop there was one two blocks from the station.

If only it had been that simple. Where the coffee shop was supposed to have been was in fact not there and the app showed the closest one after that was fourteen blocks in either direction. Kurt always one to have a terrible sense of direction didn't even know which way Manhattan was and didn't want to walk fourteen blocks the wrong way. Then Rachel lost signal on her phone and Kurt's phone was dead, so they started walking left, after a series of rock, papers, scissors that he won.

After ten blocks she got a signal again, got on her GPS, and realized they had walked the wrong way. Kurt was pissed and tired and he didn't want coffee or chitchat. He wanted to strangle Rachel and then go back to campus so he could finish his paper.

Rachel asked him why he was being so pissy and he told her that he needed to finish the paper and even if it wasn't important to her it was to him. She just laughed at him and told him she had finished the paper three works before with the help of Brody.

Kurt hated Brody even more than he hated Rachel if it was possible. The guy was such an arrogant asshole. He treated Rachel like shit and he was pretty sure he was at the very least bisexual. There was no way Brody wasn't cheating on her. And truth be told, as much as Rachel annoyed him, Finn was very much still in love with her and he hated seeing Finn still so broken up about Rachel choosing Brody over him.

Kurt and Rachel came to a stoplight and that's when he saw it. A cute little bookshop and coffee shop across the street. He tugged on Rachel's arm and told her that it would be better than any Starbucks. Once the light turned they crossed the street, it was now early afternoon and it seemed to be fairly busy, but they had their coffees in a matter of minutes and Kurt sat down on the couch by the window. Sitting on the coffee table was a book about Benedict Arnold, so he picked it up and started thumbing through it.

He heard a women come in and ask one of the workers if they had any good children's books and the man told her, quite passionately, about the newest series that had just come out. Kurt could hear their entire conversation because the bookcases were right behind where he was sitting. The man told the woman about the classics like Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, and different supernatural series for children who liked fantasy, and his personal favorite book, "The Hobbit." Kurt could feel an attraction for the man already, based on his voice and his passion for the book. However, one thing bothered him. The voice sounded vaguely familiar and he tried to place it. He knew he had heard that voice at some point in his life, but he couldn't remember where.

He looked up as the woman and the mystery man walked to the register.

He still couldn't get a good look at him as he rang up her purchase.

Then finally, the woman thanked him for his help and walked out the door.

The man had turned around though, before Kurt could get a look at his face.

He even looked familiar and that drove him crazy. Who was this guy?

Rachel came over and shoved at least four music theory books at him.

"So, these are just some of the books I used when I did my paper. Brody had these and it helped me get my paper to seventeen pages."

Kurt rolled his eyes and picked the heaviest book up. He sometimes hated NYADA and wished for a nanosecond he was back at Vogue working in fashion. He missed it actually, even the grueling hours and the crazy boss. But he shook it off, he was at NYADA now and he needed to graduate.

Kurt got so engrossed in reading about music theory he forgot about the mystery man who worked there, until Rachel gasped. There stood Dave Karofsky at one of the shelves stocking books.

Kurt dropped the heavy book on his foot in shock and then let out a few choice swear words.

Dave turned and looked at Kurt, first in amusement, then in shock.

Their eyes met and time seemed to stand still.

Kurt's breathe caught in his throat and his heart pounded in his ears.

So that's what that moment feels like.

Dave stood frozen in shock with a book on medieval war tactics in his hand.

He finally looked away, shelved the book and continued down the row.

Kurt felt hurt by that. Dave was brushing him off? They hadn't spoken in at least five years.

Kurt felt awful then. Of course Dave would brush him off. He had told Dave he wanted to be friends, and then he never spoke to him again.

He went off to New York City with Rachel and never even stopped in to say goodbye. Truthfully, Kurt had wondered about Dave over the years, if he had gone to college, if he had found a boyfriend, or even if he was still alive.

But there he was in the flesh, working in a small bookstore with a coffee shop. He seemed to be doing okay, well at least from where he stood he actually looked really good. He had gotten taller somehow and even though he had always been big, he looked toned and built and didn't seem to have any of the chubbiness he carried in high school. It was really unfair how well he had aged actually.

Kurt realized he was openly staring at Dave and blushed and quickly picked up the book he had been reading. He knew Rachel was staring at him, but the last thing he wanted was for her to go into some lecture about how he should at least be polite and go talk to him and he needed more friends and that hanging out with Blaine didn't count, because Blaine had moved on with Sebastian Smythe, who had also ended up at NYADA and they were desperately in love with each other and Kurt needed to find his own boyfriend, and no, not Dave, but he still needed to go talk to him. So he got up in a huff.

"Fine, Rachel. I'll go say hi to him, okay? Back off."

Rachel just grinned, "I didn't say anything, Kurt."

"I know that look, Rachel. I know exactly what you were thinking."

Rachel just giggled again and turned back to her book on Broadway legends.

Kurt nervously walked over to the shelf where Dave was restocking books on knitting and other craft related books.

He nervously thumbed some of the books and waited for Dave to at least acknowledge he was there.

"Can I help you find something, sir?"

"Sir?"

"It's sir now, David?"

David put the books down on the cart and turned to look at Kurt.

"It's how I treat all the paying customers."

"But you know my name."

"Of course I do, and you know mine, but seeing as it's been six years since I've seen you, I wasn't sure you'd be comfortable with me pretending like I knew you."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you weren't in high school."

Kurt sighed and leaned against the wall.

"You're right, David. I wasn't. I'm sorry that I didn't keep up my end of the deal."

"I never expected you to, Kurt. I figured you were being polite and that you didn't actually care to be my friend or actually care about me at all."

Kurt's heart constricted with pain. He felt terrible. He knew what Dave had tried to do and he still couldn't be bothered to be there for him, even if only in friendship.

"I'm sorry. And I never meant for you to feel like I didn't care. I did care, David. I just didn't know how to show you that, without it being awkward."

"Well, clearly, I'm doing great."

Kurt didn't know if he was being sarcastic or honestly thought he was doing great.

"Are you really?"

Kurt could see a flash of annoyance go across Dave's face and he regretted asking him that.

"What do you mean, are you really? You don't know anything about me. Hell, I bet you didn't even know that I live here now and am in grad school."

Kurt was surprised to hear that.

"No, I mean, but you don't know anything about me, either."

"Yeah, I do. Finn and I started playing video games on X-Box almost immediately after I left Lima to go to Boston College, and he told me everytime exactly what you'd been up to. I know that you were an intern at Vogue, then you transferred to NYADA and got back together with your precious Blaine. Oh yeah, I heard about that asshole cheating on you, and you taking him back. Then I heard about how you broke up again when Blaine and Sebastian came to the city, and how you plan on taking over the world with your fabulous singing voice, or whatever."

Kurt stood there stunned,

"Wow, I guess Finn really did tell you everything."

"Yep, so there you have it. I figured in a city of eight million people, we'd never run into each other, but here you are in Brooklyn."

"Yeah, Rachel had an audition and we ended up getting lost, and this was the first coffee shop we could find."

"That seems about right."

"What?"

"Nothing, it just always seems that no matter where I go or what I do, you somehow always end up."

"What does that mean?"

"About three weeks ago, these ladies came in looking for Les Miserables, and they going on and on about the production of it they saw at NYADA and some boy named Kurt Hummel had played Enjrolas and was so fabulous and they were just like over the moon."

Kurt flushed at that,

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. I sold at least 40 copies that day."

"Wow."

"Yeah. So were there any books I could help you find?"

"No, but I am curious. Why are you working in Brooklyn if you got to school in Manhattan?"

"This is the only neighborhood I could afford rent in. So I commute to NYU."

"Oh, and you like it here?"  
"Yeah, actually. You just left one of the seedier neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but as you go farther and farther east, you get into the hipster areas, which aren't bad at all. There are some awesome restaurants and clubs around here actually."

"I had no idea."

"Most people don't. Especially if they live in Manhattan. They have no desire to come to Brooklyn to taste awesome food or buy art from struggling artists, and besides they have Greenwich Village for that."

"Manhattan isn't that bad, David."

"I didn't say it was, I'm just defending Brooklyn. It's a great borough and besides my friends are here and I have a nice roommate actually. He's really nice."

"You have a guy roommate?"

Kurt couldn't help but feel a small twinge of something at that. But he brushed it aside.

"It's not like that, Kurt. I'm definitely single. I'm rooming with Artie Abrams."

"Artie? You and Artie live together?"

"Yeah, and Tina whenever she stays over. They're together now."

"You mean again."

"Fine. Again, whatever. I work nights and weekends, so I give them the apartment as much as I can and hope by the time I get home they are done having sex."

Kurt grimaced at the thought and Dave just laughed,

"Yeah, it's not pleasant to hear either."

"So you went Boston College?"

"Yeah, I graduated a year early and have my bachelor's in sports management. I'm at NYU getting my master's in sports management. I'll be going to law school then."

"You're going to law school?"

"Yeah, I remember someone telling me once I needed to get out of Lima and make a change for myself and I recall him telling me that I needed to do it in a big city. I also remember deciding I wanted to be a sports agent."

Kurt smiled at that memory. He had remember imagining a scenario with Dave after he had tried to commit suicide and in that scenario Dave was a successful sports agent and was married and had a little boy. What he didn't tell Dave was that he had imagined it was him as his husband and that thought sent tingles down his spine and arms. He remembered that vision vividly, as if it was painted fresh on his mind that very day.

"I recall that as well."

"I'm not sure it will happen by the time I'm 28, that's only about five years away."

"It doesn't matter when it happens, David. It matters that you did it and you are in a better place. That's what I wanted for you then, and I still do."

"Really? Even after ignoring me for six years?

"I realize that I was a terrible friend to you, David, back then, but I 'd like to make it up to you."

Dave looked at him warily,  
"How exactly?"

"I want to get to know you again. I mean it. I was really intrigued when you were telling that woman all about the books you loved as a kid, and I realized I should've known that about you. I should've known how you take your coffee, and what kinds of movies you like and what foods you absolutely hate. And I feel regretful, like I missed out on being your friend. And I want to fix it."

Dave swallowed a few times, looked at his hands and then back at Kurt.

"I'd like that, Kurt, but I don't know that I trust you to not abandon me again. I mean if I become your friend and you get a new guy, are you going to stop talking to me and pretending like you don't know me?"

"I can't promise you that being my friend won't be hard, David. I know I can be a flaky bitch. I know that I sometimes lash out at the people I'm closest to when I'm upset or hurt, but I really want to become your friend. I'd like to at least try. If you decide somewhere down the road that you don't want to be my friend, then I'll walk away, and you'll never hear from me again, but I hope that we can become friends and I hope that you can introduce me to all Brooklyn has to offer.

Dave smiled then and Kurt's heart jumped a little at the sight. Dave pulled a notebook out of his pocket, wrote his number down and handed it to him.

"There's my number. You know how to reach me when you want to hang out."

Kurt was almost giddy with relief, he had a new chance with Dave, the chance he didn't know he had regretted never taking before.

As Rachel hounded him with questions about Dave on the train ride back to Manhattan, he fingered the piece of paper he clung to desperately. He had a feeling his life was just starting and he looked forward to starting it with a new friendship, maybe, hopefully someday, relationship.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a year since Kurt and Dave ran into each other in Brooklyn, they had become very good friends since that time. Kurt was proud to admit that he knew almost everything there was to know about David, and in the course of that year, he had fallen desperately and hopelessly in love with Dave. Unfortunately, for Kurt, Dave had met someone a few weeks after they reconnected and they ended up dating for seven months. Dave was heartbroken when Taylor broke it off. Kurt never did get a complete answer as to why they broke up, but nevertheless he felt bad. Even if he Dave loved another man, it was worth the price of seeing Dave happy. His goal today, was to cheer him up. One thing about Dave that always attracted Kurt to him, even in high school, was that he was so athletic. He love sports and he was good at them too, especially hockey. Hockey was Dave's true love. Kurt got to see that first hand, when Dave invited Kurt over for dinner. It turned out to be wings and beer, and the Detroit Red Wings playing. Kurt can't even remember who they were playing against, but that night he got to see Dave in his element. Kurt liked it a lot. Kurt tried to keep up with hockey news so that he and Dave could have something in common, but every time he tried to talk about it, he ended up making himself look like an idiot.

He shuffled nervously as he waited for Dave to answer the door to his apartment. Artie and Tina had moved out after they got married, so Dave was left alone. Kurt tried as often as possible to go over and keep him company, but it was hard with him still living in Manhattan with Rachel and Brody. Honestly, he had hoped Dave would ask him to move in with him, so that he could save on rent and get away from Rachel and Brody constantly having sex when he was in the apartment. But he didn't want to rush Dave into anything and he didn't want to ruin their friendship.

Dave finally answered the door wearing nothing but a pair of sweat pants. Kurt sighed; of course, he'd open the door half-naked. Kurt hated feeling that way about Dave, when it was clear Dave was oblivious to it and or didn't feel that way about Kurt at all.

Kurt brushed past Dave and walked into the living room.

The house was a mess.

"When's the last time you cleaned, David?"

"I don't know. "

"You've got to do something, Dave. You cannot live like this."

"I don't care, Kurt. It's not like anyone lives with me now, so what do I care if it's messy."

"Well I care. I'm over here a lot, David."

"No one asked you too, Kurt."

Kurt felt like he had just been punched in the stomach.

"Fine, you're right. I'll go then."

"Kurt, wait."

"What?"  
"I'm sorry, okay? I'm just frustrated. Taylor called me today and wanted to pick up his stuff, and we got into an argument and I'm just really not in the mood for another one."

"I didn't come here to fight with you. I'm sorry things aren't going well for you and Taylor, but I came over hoping I could cheer you up."

"How so? I'm not going to another of those one women shows about their vaginas."

"I got you some hockey tickets."

"You got me tickets to a hockey game?"

"Yeah, for the Rangers and the Red Wings. Finn helped me pick them out."

"But you hate hockey."

"No I don't."

"Fancy, I've known you for a year, the last time you tried to talk hockey to me, you go so frustrated you threw the remote across the room and told me and my precious hockey could go suck it."

"Okay, well, it's not my favorite, but I know that you love it, and I want you to be happy even if it's only a few hours watching hockey."

Dave looked at him strangely and took the tickets. Kurt waited as Dave got dressed and let himself daydream about watching the game with Dave. Although in the daydream, Kurt got to make out with Dave, and Dave thanked Kurt for the game by giving him a blowjob. He blushed bright red at that thought. He quickly pulled his phone and started playing Tetris, hoping that it would distract him long enough to save himself from further embarrassment.

Ten minutes later Dave was out of his bedroom, dressed in his hockey jersey and jeans. Kurt couldn't help but sigh, that was the Dave he knew and loved, not the one who moped around his apartment and refused to go outside other than for school or work.

Kurt got up and grabbed his coat.

Dave turned to him then,

"Hey, so I just got off the phone with Artie. He's going to go to the game with me. I know how much you hate hockey, and I don't want you to have to sit through it."

"But I…"  
"Come on Kurt, I know there's something else you'd rather be doing on a Friday evening than feeling sorry for me, so just go do it."

Kurt was devastated. He had wanted to spend time with Dave more than anything and instead he'd been blown off for Artie.

Kurt didn't say anything as he left. He was too hurt and close to tears.

He rode the subway home in silence as the tears threatened to spill down his face, and ended up at his apartment.

Rachel and Brody had gone out for the evening, so he was left alone to drown his sorrows in a tub of ice cream. He put in the saddest movie Rachel owned, and cried himself to sleep.

He was woken up four hours later when someone was pounding at his door.

He looked at the clock on the dvr and noticed it was eleven p.m.

He took the now melted ice cream and dumped it down the sink and then went to open the door.

Dave was standing at the door looking like he had just run a marathon.

"Are you okay, Dave?"

"Sorry. Let me catch my breath."

Dave stood there panting and finally walked past Kurt into the apartment.

"First off, thank you for the tickets. I had a good time with Artie."

"I'm glad you liked it. You came all the way to Manhattan say thank you?"

"No. I'm a jerk, Kurt and I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Artie yelled at me tonight when I told him that you bought tickets for a game, and I invited him instead. He seems to be under the impression that it was supposed to be a date or something and at the very least, I should've at least asked you if you wanted to go with me."

Kurt decided it was now or never, so he took a deep breath, closed the door and turned to face the man he loved.

"Artie was right. I had hoped that it would be a date."

"What?"

"Is it really that surprising to you, David?"

"But we're friends."  
"Right, friends, but we've been friends for over a year now. We spend almost every waking moment, when we are not at work or school, together. We know everything about each other, and guess what? I like what I know about you, I have for a long time, and eventually along the way somewhere, I fell in love with you."

"You don't love me."

Kurt winced as the words he had used on David back in high school were flung back in his face.

"Why do you think I don't love you?"

"You're just lonely, Kurt. You haven't been laid in a while, and you're using me as an excuse."

Kurt couldn't hold the tears back anymore

"I do love you, Dave, whether not you want to believe it. The reason I haven't been laid in a while, is because I realized I was in love with you about eight months ago, and I haven't felt that way about anyone, since Blaine. So sorry, if I don't just want to go get laid or date the first willing guy I meet. It's not that simple for me."

"Kurt, stop it."

"No, you know what, it's fine. Invalidate my feelings, make them seem like they are worthless and that I'm not actually feeling what I'm feeling. I did it to you in high school and I deserve it. Can you please leave?"  
Dave looked at Kurt as if he was a pathetic child and it hurt knowing that Dave not only didn't believe him, but clearly did not feel the same way about him.

"Kurt, come on, don't be like this?"

Kurt scoffed at that,

"Like what? Like you didn't just break my heart and make me feel like an idiot for telling you that I love you, that I'm in love with and have been for a while? I'm sorry, I'm not that good at acting. Just get out, Dave. You don't get to break my heart and then stick around to rub it in my face. "

By the point, he was almost in hysterics and he just wanted Dave gone, so he could cry in peace.

He pushed Dave out the door then and locked it.

He didn't speak to Dave for six months. He needed time to get over his broken heart and when he heard Dave had started dating someone new and that it was getting serious after only three months, he suffered a setback. One that didn't have him leaving his apartment at all. He had just finished his last production of a small Broadway production, and he didn't feel like going on any auditions. It was going into the third week of his seclusion and into the six-month mark of not speaking to or seeing Dave.

There was a knock on his door then on a hot summer day in July. Kurt had just gotten out of the shower and had put on the most comfortable outfit he had, some old gym shorts and a tank top.

He pulled the door open to see Dave standing there.

"What do you want?"

"Can I come in, Kurt?"

"Why? So you can further humiliate me?"

"I don't want to fight with you, Kurt. I just want to talk to you."

"Fine."

Kurt turned to one of the windows and looked out. It wasn't much of a view, but the last thing he wanted to do was look at Dave and be reminded of what had happened."

"Kurt, please look at me."

"No."

"Fine, well, I know you're wondering why I'm here."

"Whatever."

"Rachel called me and told me that you needed an intervention, that you refused to leave the apartment and that you were disrupting her sex life with Brody."

"So you came down here to give me an intervention?"

"No. I came down here to tell you that I was wrong six months ago."

"Okay."

"I'm serious, Kurt. I thought about what you said every day since I left here and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret what I said to you or how I made you feel."

"And it took you six months to come tell me this, because I'm pathetic and desperate and need an intervention?"

"I'm sorry, Kurt, I just didn't know how to deal with your feelings and my feelings and I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

"That you might actually love me and that we started a relationship, then broke up. I don't want to lose you in my life, Kurt. "

"You did lose me, though."

"I know and it kills me that I didn't tell you that I loved you too."

"Please stop patronizing me, David."

"I'm not. I did love you. I loved you so much and I thought you were out of my league, there was no way anyone like you would ever love me. So when you told me that you did, I was stunned and I honestly didn't believe it at first. And by the time I realized it, too much time had passed and I thought you hated me."

"I don't hate you, I never did, Dave, but it doesn't matter now does it? You're with someone and apparently happy and I wish you nothing but happiness and success, but if you think I'm just going to want to pick up where we left off as friends, I can't. I won't."

Dave looked confused and heartbroken at the same time.

"What do you mean, Kurt?"

"About what?"

"I'm not with anyone."

"Yes you are. Artie told me that you have been seeing a guy named Rick for three months now and that you're going to ask him to move in with you."

"Artie is a fucking liar. I went on three dates with Rick and the last date he spent the entire date trying to get the waiter's number. I didn't go on another date."

"But…"

"Artie has been pressuring me for six months to come back here and tell you that I still love you, that I always have, and that I was an idiot and a jerk for what I did to you."

Kurt felt like he was going to hyperventilate. Not only was Dave not serious with Rick, he was single and in his apartment telling him he loved him.

"You can't just come back here and expect me to be still in love with you."

"I know, and I don't think you are."

"But why would you come here then if you thought that?"

"I came here to ask you if you'd like to go on a date with me."

"A date?"

"Yeah the thing where two people go out together to see if they are compatible and like each other."

"You want to go on a date with me?"

"Yes."  
"Where?"

"I was hoping we could go get some ice cream and talk."  
"Talk about what?"

"Anything you want, we haven't talked in six months, I have a feeling you have a lot of stuff pent up."

Kurt took a deep breath and bent down and put his sandals on.

"Let's go."

They went to a local ice cream shop and sat in a booth for two hours and talked about everything they had missed in six months. Kurt realized about twenty minutes in that he was definitely still in love with Dave and actually loved him more than he did before. It was alarming, distressing, and exhilarating.

After the ice cream was gone, Dave offered to walk Kurt back to his apartment. It was still a sweltering heat and Kurt looked forward to getting back into air conditioning, then he felt Dave brush his hand and he felt tingles everywhere. When Dave did it again, Kurt reached out grabbed it and entwined their hands together. They held hands the rest of the way back to his apartment.

When they arrived back at his apartment, Dave stopped as Kurt was walking up the steps.

"I'm going to say goodbye here, Kurt. I don't want to rush anything and I want you to realize that I do love you and I'm willing to go on as many dates and take it as slow as you want."

Kurt felt his heart swell at that statement.

He dropped Dave's hand and moved up on step higher and leaned in and kissed Dave.

It was short and sweet, but it held so many emotions.

He leaned back and saw Dave's slightly parted lips and the look of surprise on his face.

"Thank you, David."

David stood there blinking trying to comprehend what had just happened and Kurt couldn't help himself, Dave so adorable and he leaned back in. This time, Dave was ready and kissed back and it was glorious. It was the best kiss Kurt can ever remember having and his feelings were flying everywhere and all he wanted to do was keep kissing Dave for eternity and even then, it wouldn't be enough.

They finally broke apart and Kurt stood there looking at Dave grinning like an idiot.

"Thanks for the ice cream, David and for everything else."

Dave smiled and squeezed his fingertips.  
"I'm going to go now, Kurt, but I'll call you tonight."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I always call to say goodnight to my boyfriend."

Boyfriend. Yeah he definitely liked the sound of that.

Dave kissed him again quickly and then waved as he walked down the street.

Kurt sat on the steps and was still there grinning like an idiot and when Dave called to tell him goodnight, he could have sworn he heard Dave whisper an I love you in there, and Kurt whispered it back.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt was happy, like really, really, really happy. He had finally fucking moved out of the apartment he shared with Rachel and Brody. Another six months had passed between the time that David had showed up to take him out on a first date, and him asking him awkwardly and very sweetly to move in with him. It was now New Year's Eve and Tina and Artie were getting married and moving to New Jersey for Artie's job. As he sat in the pew holding David's hand, he couldn't help buy daydream and hope that one day that would be David and him. David squeezed his hand almost as if he had seen into Kurt's mind and was agreeing. Kurt could not believe how much he loved the man he was sitting next to. Their life wasn't perfect and they squabbled like an old married pair of geese, but they always made up and rather fabulously at that. He couldn't imagine his life without David in it, and it was in that moment, watching Tina and Artie commit their lives to each other in front of their friends and family back in Lima, that he decided he was going to propose to David. His raced at the thought, but he couldn't keep the grin from creeping on his face.

Kurt wanted it to be perfect, he wanted flowers and candlelight and time alone with David, so he decided to book a cabin in the woods in Hocking Hills. It wasn't too far from Lima, and since they both went home for the holidays and the wedding, it was really rather perfect. They both had another week off before school and work duties, so he told David to pack some winter clothes and his ice skates.

A day later, they were settling into the cabin. It had an awesome Jacuzzi bathtub, a fireplace, and a lake that was frozen over. After the first night of ice skating and hot chocolate, they settled into sleep. Kurt had planned a romantic dinner, some sex in front of the fireplace, and to ask David to marry him. However, the next day as they woke up, it was quite obvious that David was sick. Dave told him that he was pretty sure it was the stomach flu, or maybe just a bug, but the mere sound of anything being ingested was enough to make him vomit. And vomit is what he did on and off for the rest of the day. Kurt felt awful and kept emptying the bowl he had given him. He checked his temperature every so often to see if his fever had broken, and kept cool cloths to cool him off. Finally, around midnight, Kurt made David get up and take a cool bath, and then helped him back in bed. He dozed off somewhere and around three a.m., he woke up. He checked Dave's temperature again and the fever had finally broken. He went to help Dave get under the covers, because he saw that Dave had Goosebumps all over him. Dave sighed and rolled over. He slowly opened his eyes to see Kurt standing over him, trying to get him under the covers. He grabbed Kurt's hands and said,

"You should really marry me."

Kurt shocked, stopped what he was doing.

"What did you just say?"

"You should marry me."

"Why is that?"

"Because you take such good care of me, even when I accidentally vomit in your hair, and because I love you and don't want anyone else taking care of me when I'm sick."

"Well, I wasn't too happy with the vomit in my hair, but I love you too, and I wouldn't want anyone else to take care of you."

"So you'll marry me then and take care of me, even when I vomit into your hair, forever?"

"Yes, I'll marry you, but just so you know, asking me to marry you and using vomit in the same sentence is not romantic at all, and I was going to propose to you this weekend, that's why I booked this vacation for us."

"I'm sorry; if it helps you can propose when I'm feeling better, because I don't have a ring for you or anything."

Kurt just rolled his eyes and went to his bag. He pulled out the matching rings he had bought the day before the trip, put Dave's on his finger, and then slid his own on.

Kurt made sure Dave was comfortable and got him ginger ale and some toast, and after Dave ate the first thing he could in over twenty-four hours, they lay back down together. Dave was still warm and had a slight temperature, but he pulled Kurt to him as close as he could. He felt like a furnace next to Kurt, but he didn't care, he was in the arms of the man he loved, and who he was going to spend the rest of his life with.


	4. Chapter 4

After they were married, Dave and Kurt loved their life. Dave had finally graduated and was working as an assistant for a famous sports agent in New York City. It paid well, and he was getting valuable experience for when he became an agent himself. Kurt was now working as a costume designer for various Broadway productions after he realized his love of designing and clothing wasn't going away, even if he did go to NYADA, so he used his experience in both to get his dream job.

Two years after their wedding Kurt approached David about having that son they had both dreamed of in their vision, and David agreed. They went through various agencies until they found a surrogate they liked. They invested all of their savings into the process and they were ecstatic when it worked. April, the surrogate, was so happy for them, and they went to celebrate. Things seemed to progress nicely for seven months, until one afternoon in February, Kurt and Dave got the call, that April had gone into premature labor and delivered a stillborn baby.

Kurt was devastated for himself, but mostly for David. This had been David's dream, the one thing that had kept him holding on that day after he had tried to commit suicide. He felt awful that he would never get to meet his child. They had decided to wait until the baby was born to learn the gender, so that afternoon in the hospital they met their daughter Elizabeth. Kurt held her in his arms and counted her fingers and toes. She looked just like an angel and he cried, as he thought about all the things Dave and Kurt would never get to do with her. He begged his mom to look after her.

Dave took care of all the funeral arrangements. He bought the tiny coffin and bought a dress to bury his daughter in. He called the funeral home and found a small plot near where Kurt's mother was buried, and he wept as he held Elizabeth.

Kurt and Dave grieved for months over the loss of their daughter and they started to grow apart, until one day in August, Kurt had packed his bags. He was tired of living alone in his house. He had a husband who wasn't there, who didn't talk to him, and he wanted away from the memory of Elizabeth hanging over him.

Dave let him go. He didn't know how to comfort Kurt. He had tried in the early months to talk to Kurt, but Kurt always insisted he was fine. He always told David he didn't want to talk about it, and that he wanted to be left alone. He didn't know how to deal with his grief and his husband's too.

Six months apart was hell for both men. Kurt moved back in with Rachel, who had broken up with Brody and who was talking to Finn again. Artie and Tina spent as much time as they could with Dave at his apartment, but it was hard with them having a new baby and not wanting to rub their happiness in his face.

They both showed up at the cemetery on the anniversary of Elizabeth's death. Both had flowers. They stood together in silence as they both grieved the death of their daughter and the death of their marriage. Kurt told Dave they needed to discuss what they needed to do next, and so they went for coffee.

They went to the coffee shop that Dave used to work at. They sat at a small table with their coffees and nervously waited for the other to start talking.

Kurt asked Dave if he wanted to file for divorce or if he should. Dave said neither and got up. Kurt thought he was leaving, but Kurt went to one of the bookshelves and pulled a book out. He brought it back to the table. It was a book on dealing with the loss of a child as couple. He told Kurt he wanted a family with him, that he missed him every day since Elizabeth died, that he was sorry for not knowing how to deal with the loss of their daughter, that he had gone to therapy on his own to get help with his grief and that he wanted Kurt in his life for the rest of his life. Kurt sat at the table and wept as David poured his heart out. He opened the book and read the first step, which was communicating with your spouse. He told David everything he had kept bottled up, how he felt David didn't cry as much as he did over the loss of Elizabeth, that he felt like he moved on with his life a lot faster than he did, and that maybe he didn't really want a child, and that the dream they had shared in the hospital room after David's suicide attempt was a lie and made their love and relationship a lie.

They talked for four hours and after much crying and too many cups of coffee, David asked Kurt to come home. It didn't take them long to get back to their comfortable routine of talking, fighting, singing, dancing, playing, and loving. When Rachel offered to surrogate for them a year later, Kurt refused to even discuss it, until David told him his dream in that hotel room was as alive as it was then, he wanted a child with Kurt, a family, and he wanted to try again and if they couldn't go with a surrogate they would adopt.

Ten months later, they were welcoming their son Aiden Paul Hummel-Karofsky.


	5. Chapter 5

Four years later, Dave has his own office and his own assistant. He even has a view on the top floor of his office building. He looks out at the skyline of New York City and cherishes it. He is happy and exhausted. Truthfully, his job is stressful and outside of being a husband and father, the hardest job he has ever had. He would not change it for anything. He realizes how far he has come, what led him to this place, and that his husband, the man of his dreams, gave him everything he had ever needed and wanted. Their second daughter was born to Rachel a year before and they now had a little girl named Rachel Elizabeth Karofsky-Hummel, and Aiden. He looked at the clock for the hundredth time on that Sunday afternoon. He had gone to his office to make sure all the contracts were signed. His star client was starting his first football game for the New York Giants. Rachel and Finn took little Rachel in the for the day to babysit her, and Kurt and Aiden were going with him to the game.

When the door opened and Dave got up to greet his husband with a kiss on the lips and scoop up his little boy in his arms, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Then he locked eyes with Kurt, and they both began to tear up. It had been their fantasy ten years before, and truthfully, while Kurt had never really imagined himself in Dave's fantasy, Dave had always picture Kurt as his husband and coparent in life.

He pulled Kurt closer, kissed him again, and whispered a thank you in his ear. Kurt just hugged him tighter.

Their tender moment was interrupted when Aiden tugged on Dave's collar and asked rather loudly,

"Why are you guys crying?"

Kurt laughed and sniffled and wiped his eyes,

"We're not sad, honey, I promise. We are just so happy with how our lives have turned out and that you are our son."

"Well of course I'm your son, who else would I be?"

Kurt laughed again dropped a kiss on Aiden's forehead and kissed his husband again.

"Of course, silly me, I don't know what I was thinking. Are you ready for some football?"

Aiden bounced excitedly in Dave's arms and threw his arms out,  
"Yeah! I can't wait to see Vince score a touchdown, and make those stupid Jet's fans cry like a little bitch!"

Kurt gasped in horror,

"Who taught you that language, young man?"

"Daddy did. He yelled it at the TV when Mark Sanchez got tackled. He said, "Those Jet's fans are such little bitches, always crying."

Kurt turned his glare to David, who blushed and bowed his head,

"I think we need to talk about language again, David."

"Sorry."  
"Yeah, well, this time you get to explain it to his preschool teacher if he calls her that."

"Fine. When we get back, I'll talk to him. But we need to get to the game."

Kurt rolled his eyes, but took his husband's hand as they walked out of Dave's office with their son.

Dave locked his office door and turned to walk down the hallway to the football game and the beginning of his life.

He had done it, his dream had come true, and he realized that he was strong and that nothing in high school was worth the risk of not having this life. It did get better for him. It was then that he vowed to make sure no gay teen or any teen for that matter, ever felt like he did and that he had to make his story known.

He emailed his assistant and asked him to get him in contact with some local gay charities to help struggling students. He wasn't going to waste the opportunity to pay it forward, especially not when the man he had always loved was by his side and had been that person for him.

He pulled his husband even closer to him and sighed happily. He had really come a long way since that day in February when he thought his life was over. It wasn't it was only just beginning and who would have known that a small coffee shop in Brooklyn would have led him straight to the love of his life and the fantasy that he had held since he was in high school?


End file.
